Thread: Honing a Gold Dollar is hard!

Well, you see he was selling these only out of the goodness of his heart. It's just everybody else that is about commercialism. I highly doubt that he actually is taking two hours on each GD, that's just what he said.

So many learning to hone yet not learning to shave before getting that GD right, How about a good used vintage n the classifieds ready to shave with and it will be ready to learn to hone on too! Oh well this world has all kinds in it that's why it's fun at times. Tc

Originally Posted by Grazor

Don't stop till you hit 0/8...

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

So many learning to hone yet not learning to shave before getting that GD right, How about a good used vintage n the classifieds ready to shave with and it will be ready to learn to hone on too! Oh well this world has all kinds in it that's why it's fun at times. Tc

Some of us (like myself) were born back-assward, and have been that way ever since. We just can't help our insatiable urge to try to walk before we can crawl.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Some of us (like myself) were born back-assward, and have been that way ever since. We just can't help our insatiable urge to try to walk before we can crawl.

Amen!

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the fact these days is:-

**newsflash**

most gold dollars/gold monkey/zy's these days do not require extensive honing to get a great shave. They are already sharpened to 4k or 6k already. They are sharp enough as is & they just need a finishing touchup. So my current thinking is most of them merely require gentle honing on a 10k stone and then finishing up by stropping on a newspaper 200 laps each side.

My fault when I started honing was using a carborundum sharpening stone (an oil stone with 2 sides, one smooth and one rough) but doesn't have the grit mentioned. I suspect the rough side is 220 and the smooth side is 1000. But that is just my suspiscion, can't say for sure. This is the one here:



It created a lot of slurry when used with oil, maybe I scraped away the razor edge creating a totally new bevel. It was painful, but I created a new bevel without any reason. Yes, it's a stupid thing to do.

Originally Posted by almond

the fact these days is:-

**newsflash**

most gold dollars/gold monkey/zy's these days do not require extensive honing to get a great shave. They are already sharpened to 4k or 6k already. They are sharp enough as is & they just need a finishing touchup. So my current thinking is most of them merely require gentle honing on a 10k stone and then finishing up by stropping on a newspaper 200 laps each side.

My fault when I started honing was using a carborundum sharpening stone (an oil stone with 2 sides, one smooth and one rough) but doesn't have the grit mentioned. I suspect the rough side is 220 and the smooth side is 1000. But that is just my suspiscion, can't say for sure. This is the one here:



It created a lot of slurry when used with oil, maybe I scraped away the razor edge creating a totally new bevel. It was painful, but I created a new bevel without any reason. Yes, it's a stupid thing to do.

Entry level shave ready is 8K. Which is why they need touching up, and needing a touch up is NOT 'shave ready.' And if you cut a completely new bevel on that hardware store hone, that's a good indicator that it wasn't honed at the proper angle, and needed a complete hone from bevel set on up - not just a 10k touch up.

If all you did was take a Naniwa 10k to that razor, you would be there for hours - if not days - trying to get the razor to contact the hone from the shoulder to the edge of the bevel. Some of these people have been honing for a long time, and many have honed more Gold Dollars than you have messed up. You would do well to listen when they speak - I guarantee you they are not wrong in their assessment of these razors.

Can I get another amen! Tc

Originally Posted by almond

the fact these days is:-

**newsflash**

most gold dollars/gold monkey/zy's these days do not require extensive honing to get a great shave. They are already sharpened to 4k or 6k already. They are sharp enough as is & they just need a finishing touchup. So my current thinking is most of them merely require gentle honing on a 10k stone and then finishing up by stropping on a newspaper 200 laps each side.

If I were you I'd really be careful with such blanket statements because you could be asked " How many of each have you tried to be statistically significant to make the claim?"
For example I have two ZY, that I purchased from two different sellers to make sure they are not coming from the same batch.
After some honing on 1k here is what I find under magnification:




The second ZY is in factory condition, and here is what I find under magnification:





Those are hardly

sharpened to 4k or 6k already.

They hardly

just need a finishing touchup.

And they most definitely do need a lot more than

merely require gentle honing on a 10k stone

I do not know what razors have you tried so far but, my advise is to learn honing on some vintage Solingen blades. You will get an idea of how honing works and how well heat treated steel feels. Then revisit the Chinese blades to see what the difference its. Right now, if you have not tired anything else you have no clue what shave ready is and how a good razor behaves on the stones and cheek. You think that the GDs/ZYs/ Gold Monkeys are sharp, but anything with 1k finish on it is sharp, that does not mean it will shave great eventually.

Originally Posted by almond

the fact these days is:-

**newsflash**

most gold dollars/gold monkey/zy's these days do not require extensive honing to get a great shave. They are already sharpened to 4k or 6k already. They are sharp enough as is & they just need a finishing touchup. So my current thinking is most of them merely require gentle honing on a 10k stone and then finishing up by stropping on a newspaper 200 laps each side.

My fault when I started honing was using a carborundum sharpening stone (an oil stone with 2 sides, one smooth and one rough) but doesn't have the grit mentioned. I suspect the rough side is 220 and the smooth side is 1000. But that is just my suspiscion, can't say for sure. This is the one here:



It created a lot of slurry when used with oil, maybe I scraped away the razor edge creating a totally new bevel. It was painful, but I created a new bevel without any reason. Yes, it's a stupid thing to do.

And that is why they are not recommended for new shavers. Yours’s is not an uncommon story.

They can be made to shave, and that is the problem, they have to be made to shave first, then honed. It I not honing, it is Gold Dollar repair…

It is a razor “kit”.

If you want to learn to drive, you don’t go buy a Kit car in a box. You can, but… it will be a while before you are driving.